Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device for restricting movement of a vehicle equipped with a battery chargeable from an external power source via a charging cable during connection of the charging cable.
Related Art
A battery as a vehicle-mounted power supply is essential to a vehicle such as an automobile, and a vehicle-mounted battery must be charged.
Upon charging the vehicle-mounted battery on a vehicle which is charged from an external power source, as is known in an electric vehicle and a plug-in hybrid vehicle, a charging gun of a charging cable provided on either one side of the external power source or the vehicle (usually on the side of the external power source) is inserted into a charging port provided on either one side of the vehicle or the external power source (usually on the side of the vehicle) so that the charging cable is connected with the vehicle or the external power source and the vehicle-mounted battery is charged from the external power source via the charging cable.
Upon charging the vehicle-mounted battery as described above, usually, a driver once exits from the vehicle and carries out a connecting work of the charging cable.
At this time, the driver must bring the vehicle into a non-movable state by shifting to a parking position (P range) in which rotation of a drive axle is locked and carry out the above connecting work of the charging cable in the non-movable state.
However, if the driver exits from the vehicle while forgetting shifting to the parking position (P range) and carries out the connecting work of the charging cable, the vehicle occasionally may be allowed to move by a component of force of gravity in such a case that the vehicle is stopped on a slope (inclined surface). With such a movement of the vehicle, during charging the battery, the charging cable extending between the vehicle and the external power source may be damaged.
Therefore, conventionally, for instance, as recited in Patent Literature 1, there has been proposed a measure to hold the vehicle in a braking state by an operation of a brake actuator while a shift position is not a parking position (P range), that is, when the shift position is a stop position (N range), a forward running position (D range) or a reverse running position (R range).
According to the technology proposed, even when the driver carries out the connecting work of the charging cable while forgetting shifting to the parking position (P range), the vehicle is held in the braking state by the operation of the brake actuator and prevented from moving in a direction along the slope so that the charging cable can be free from damage.